Living Doll
by exaigon
Summary: On a risky surveillance mission in the Dark Lord's manor, two Order members discover a surprising secret. One that has been hidden for years.


_**The Living Doll**_

"Are you sure You-Know-Who isn't here?"

"Snape has been giving accurate information for years. Why shouldn't we trust it?"

"He's a bloody Death Eater for one! And he's a slimy Slytherin that uses Dark magic."

"Stop raising your voice! Do you want to get us caught," was whispered harshly in the darkly lit corridor.

Before the second person could answer the door to their right swung open barely missing the first man's nose.

A black haired female exited clearly talking to someone behind her. "So there's still no response?"

"No, Bella. The only time he moves is if magic is used or He enters the room and talks to him."

Bellatrix Lestrange glared at her sister as Narcissa Malfoy carefully closed the door behind her.

"My Lord is getting extremely agitated with the treaty negotiations and the boy's non-responsive state, Cissy. He's going to start taking it out on his followers again," she whined.

Narcissa stopped and turned a raised eyebrow to the childish woman.

"I like pain sister dear but the Cruciatus is a bit too much you know," Bellatrix pouted walking forward.

The sisters continue to chat quietly as they made their way to the stairs at the end of the hallway. The two disillusioned men let out twin sighs of relief.

"What do you think is in there, Kingsley," the second man questioned in curiosity.

"Only one way to find out right Diggory?"

The African auror removed his wand from the hip holster and with some quick casting was able to discern only a strong monitoring charm over the doorway. Letting his partner know they both worked quickly to strip the spell without setting off any alarms.

Stealthily, they both slipped into the moderately sized, well-furnished, silver and red room. Pillows and stuffed animals lined the walls and bed making the Order members blink in surprise. What use would a room like this serve in You-Know-Who's lair?

It wasn't until they spotted a small boy sitting on a blood red high backed chair near the only window that they both started forming their opinions. It was a small boy, no older than seven, that was staring blankly at the wall across from him. Well that must be what the Black sisters meant about non-responsive, though it was slightly disturbing. The boys green eyes were dull and the unruly black locks were pulled into a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck.

Kingsley scanned the rest of the room for any threats but didn't find any so he turned his attention to Diggory who had been slowly inching his way over to the prone boy. The older man slipped between the chair and the window, wand at the ready, before crouching down and getting a closer look. There were faint silvery lines that danced upon the boy's face in the torchlight of the room. Diggory would later swear they were crisscrossing scars that took up every inch of skin on the child's face. All he received in the face of his stare was a blank and half-lidded stare from jade eyes.

Diggory jerked as if struck. Those eyes were too creepy. When the wizard made to move back to his partner, who was making sure no one came in; he caught sight of a curious scar hiding under the untamed bangs upon the boy's forehead. With a frown he used his wand to brush away a bit of hair. The Order member gasped and stumbled back tripping over a stuffed tiger right into Kingsley's surprised arms.

"Diggory! Are you alright?"

"Potter," the man breathed.

"What…?"

"This… this is Potter! Harry Potter!"

The African wizard raced to confirm his partner's find.

"But he looks no older than seven! He should be fourteen now. What has this creature been doing to him," he growled contemptuously. "We have to bring him to Dumbledore to be sure."

They both nodded and Kingsley raised his wand shooting a silvery beam of light at the boy. Immediately it was flung back at him, smashing him into the far wall, once it rebounded off of a blue shield that had sprung up.

"What is that," Diggory asked as he helped the auror off of the floor.

"I imagine it's how he rebounded the killing curse," grunted Kingsley.

With a groan and a crack, the African righted himself and cautiously approached the boy. Remembering what the sisters said about magic he quickly tapped one bony shoulder. When nothing happened, he and Diggory were able to maneuver the body out of the chair and tucked safely to Kingsley's chest. The whole thing was made surreal by the fact that the boy had not moved or blinked the whole time they were in the room. If Kingsley couldn't feel a heartbeat and hear the boy breathing he would almost think Harry was a doll.

Diggory renewed the disillusionment spells (just in case) created by Moody and they journeyed back out into the hall, down the stairs, and towards the main entrance. The mission was originally supposed to be surveillance but finding Harry Potter and removing him from the current situation was the best possible course of action right now.

When, during Harry's first year of Hogwarts, the boy failed to show even though he had sent a letter saying he'd be there, everyone freaked. The first place the visited was the Dursley's residence but it looked as if no one had lived there in years. If they couldn't find the boy's muggle family how were they supposed to find him? Then the worst had happened. Lord Voldemort escaped Hogwarts with the Philosopher's Stone and regained a body. At this point the Order members that had been gathered again were desperate to find the boy. Eventually (once even Dumbldore's tracking spells failed) they even resorted to going to the Ministry and trying to use the trace on Harry's magic that Obliviator's always put on younger children raised in muggle families so as to keep track of any further accidental magic. Harry had never had accidental magic, ever, so there was no trace to be found. Eventually, they had to give up and turn all their soldiers to fighting Voldemort who was quickly rising.

Now they had found him. Unfortunately, Voldemort had gotten to the child first and tortured him into insanity. A pity…

Slowly but surely the two men mad their way across the Entrance Hall and were almost home free when the main doors burst open and in walked Voldemort, identifiable by the torn and raggedy Dementor's cloak he always wore into battles. Diggory let out a shaky breath and turned to head back up the stairs but the Death Eaters that they had been avoiding seemed to pour out of the woodwork. They were both forced against the wall to avoid touching anyone. Kingsley clutched the boy closer a little desperately.

Voldemort easily made his way through the parting crowd to the obsidian throne perched on a dais at the end of the Hall. Gracefully, he sat and swept his hood back in one movement. Instead of a horrifically disfigured monster there was a normal, extremely handsome but normal, man with glowing red slitted eyes. Those were the eyes of a monster.

"My faithful," he started in a sibilant hiss that carried across the room. "We are gathered here to discuss our progress in all of our ventures." His eyes turned to a shorter Death Eater in the front. "Bellaaa… How is our guest doing?"

"He still remains unresponsive to anything but magic, My Lord," she reported dutifully.

The man stood and pointed his wand his lips pursed in annoyance. There was no sound or light except the screams that the psychotic woman released.

Harry's head snapped in the direction of the magic and he let out a low keening noise. Kingsley tried to hush him with a hand to the mouth but it was already too late. The screams stopped as Bellatrix lay panting in the floor. Voldemort's head slowly turned in their direction and in a flash he was standing in front of Diggory with his wand raised.

Amos, the stupid wizard, brought up his own wand to fight, almost yelling a spell, but a soft light only built up on the end of the monster's thirteen inch yew wand.

"Harry~ Child where are you," the Dark Lord cooed.

Harry's arm was straining towards the light though his features were still scarily blank. The auror slowly leaned away causing the distance between them to widen.

"Come now Harry. I'm sure you want the magic. All you have to do is grab it."

Harry twitched in his arms and Kingsley was forced to take a small step back. Harry wasn't having it though and a small grunt left his lips. Voldemort's wand immediately snapped around knocking into the Potter child's hand causing the disillusionment charm to flicker. Quick as a snake, the dark wizard had snagged Harry's hand and yanked harshly forcing Kingsley to follow the movement or let go. Choosing the latter the dark skinned wizard backed up and signaled to Diggory to try and escape.

Voldemort's sibilant hisses filled the area followed by another of Harry's low whines and a twitch before the child was still again. The Dark Lord ordered his followers to find whoever had been there. Quickly, before they thought to seal the entrance both men fled.

Kingsley glanced back once and was surprised at the sight that met him. The leader of the Dark sect was back upon his throne but he was gentling cradling Potter and carding his pale hand through the boy's now loose hair soothingly.

The image was burned into his mind.

**AN:** I know I have other stories but I was recently going through some of my older stories and I came upon this. Once I reread it I had to post it! I have no idea where I was going to have it go after this so it will most likely stay a one shot unless someone wants to use it or they give me a good enough idea to run with.


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